Comet C/2023 A3 - Where to watch this week?

[Graman (GR)]

Hi all,

The weather is looking good today in Sydney and keen to catch a glimpse of the comet.

Does any one know of good spots/ovals in Sydney north shore area with clear view of the western horizon?

Thanks in advance!
GR

[By.Jove (Jove)]

try https://theskylive.com/c2023a3-info

Click on the middle of the chart, this should show details such as the location, date and time of the chart at top left. if you click on the date/time/location some controls appear at the bottom of the page where you can set these to the local time, I suggest 8pm.

Locate Venus first, then Antares (higher). to the right and down, look for the bright stars of Ophiuchus - if you can recognize these you have a chance of spotting the nucleus of the comet.

Tryon Oval in Lindfield (eastern end of Tryon Rd off Archbold) is good.

Despite all the astrophotos portraying it like a firehose across the sky, it's nothing like that. In the light pollution here its not visible naked eye - on Saturday night I found it in 8x40 binoculars as just a fuzzy dot (the nucleus) and a hint of tail, maybe a half a degree.